Marvel: 2010-07-31 - Eye of the Tiger Part II
It is late afternoon and inside the condemned hotel the feral has still not woken up from his strange psychosis. He's remained at the door of the hotel room, keeping Lily from leaving. Outside the police have finally noticed the massacre that occurred in the small park across the road. They still haven't pieced together what has happened. They have however taped the area off with crime tape and have removed the bodies of the gang bangers. Lily didn't know /what/ to do. Jeremy wasn't responding. She'd VERY briefly entertained the notion of yelling, trying to get the cops' attention, but ... the mental image of what Jeremy had done to the gangers stopped her. She didn't want /more/ deaths on his conscience. And besides ... they were /cops/. They'd be all for helping until they realized both people involved were mutants, and then from there it'd be anybody's guess how they'd react. BAD idea. And now she was getting really thirsty ... she wasn't about to try to drink the rusty dregs that could be forced out of the out-of-operation sink ... and hungry to boot. It was well after dinner by the time Jonothon noticed that Lily hadn't returned, not being the type to have dinner, and he immediately set to searching. This involved a lot of mental reaching out. He's been training, see, and that's something he's able to do. This doesn't mean he's great at it however, so it takes time. When the teen finally touches Lily's mind he feels her trouble and knows that she needs help. This lead to pouncing the first person he found, Kitty, and explaining quickly that Lily needed help. Being held captive somewhere in NYC. Sorry, no better idea then that. And after the drive down, Jono had to find Lily again. Luckily it was faster this time. (( Got her. )) Said in weary relief as he stands a street or two away from where the police are. Reaching out he attempts to touch Lily's mind again, Kitty getting to listen in. (( Lily? We're close, but I need to know what's going on. )) In the car, Kitty is a little bit antsy, "We are so going to get in trouble," she says, but that thought right now is not honestly bothering her all that much. Instead, there's a certain steeled resolve inside her own psyche - after all, her own kidnapping is still quite fresh in her memory. As Jono makes claim to finding her, she exhales, "Okay. I can either distract her kidnappers so you can get her out, or - I can weave in, snag her, and get out. You know. The whole walking through walls thing?" When the rescue crew gets there they see.. a really bad part of town. There is a police cruiser parked near the grassy square but no cops are in it. They apparently are busy knocking on doors and making a half assed attempt at finding out what went down. There aren't more working the case simply because they've identified one of the men.. a known felon, drug dealer, and murder. Chances are the others are members of that man's gang. So while they are concerned that some beast? or psycho has killed a good 6 to 7 people, they are pretty certain no one is going to answer their questions. This area is known for it's lack of cooperation with New York's Finest. On the other side of the street from the park is a condemned hotel. Half of it has already been demolished, leaving the other 3 story side rickety, but still standing. Most of it is boarded up but the main door to the lobby is missing. ((JONO!)) Lily's mental yowl probably has Jono's inner ears ringing. ((Oh thank god.)) And there's no missing the fear and anxiety, either. ((I came to exchange books with Jeremy. We got attacked by some thugs. They /shot/ Jeremy! And he ... )) no words, but a split-second flash of blood and mayhem. (( ... he's ... not ok. He won't talk to me. And he won't let me leave!)) (( I'll take the blame. )) If they get into trouble. So not worried about that. Jonothon sways and holds his head as Lily yowls. (( ARG! ..Easy, gel! That hurts. )) Hopefully Kitty didn't get it too bad, but he lacks the experience to shield her well from that. (( ..Jeremy? )) Shocked at who the trouble is. Pausing, Jono looks to Kitty and frowns. (( Alright, how about I try and talk to Jeremy, and you fetch Lily? From what I know his powers are physical. A tiger bloke, so you should be relatively safe. )) This also allows someone to stay in the car since this isn't the best of neighborhoods. (( That okay, Kitty? )) "No problem. You talk to him. I'll get Lily out," she agrees. That, she can handle. Ever since THAT day, she's gotten quite a bit braver. She waits until Jono parks the car, then steps out, "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine. Tell Lily to hold on. I'm coming." And with that, she goes insubstantial and strides confidentially into the building. Of course, she doesn't know Jeremy. And, that could lead to a little bit of trouble. Jeremy has spent the majority of the night 'cat napping'. His eyes half glazed over as his body repairs itself inside and out. He hasn't spoke, only growled or chuffed. A number of flattened bullets litter the floor around where he's sprawled out. Currently he's cleaning his claws and arms, rubbing the blood and dirt way with his tongue. Because that's the best way to wash! His ears swivel and he growls lowly as he notices Lily perking up. His ears twist around, listening to the area. ((Sorry, Jono.)) Lily is contrite, and a good deal quieter. She'd just been entirely too worked up to moderate her tone. ((He ... I dunno. He's not himself. He's not talking at all. Just growling and stuff. I've been trying to get him to talk to me since it happened and he's hasn't.)) And then. ((Oh oh. Be careful. He's awake.)) Closing the link with Kitty and Lily to allow himself better focus, Jonothon attempts to touch Jeremy's thoughts. Contacting that mind is one thing, but making sense of it quite another. Still, the teen links and attempts to reach the other teen within. (( Jeremy? )) Pokes around a little to see what all is going on. Meanwhile, Kitty is inside, phased. She peeks her head in some rooms, listening for things, looking for people. But, the fact she can run through walls, or floorboards, or - whatever else, really, increases her search time a lot. It's only a minute, maybe two, before her head phases into the room, directly behind Jeremy. She frowns, upon seeing the huge feral cat-humanoid mutant, then looks to aspy one fellow student, and soon-to-be good friend, Lily. She makes a 'Shhhhhh' noise at Lily, and phases back out of the wall, headed over towards her. Again, Kitty appears, this time near Lily. Her hand moves to ensnare her friend... The mind Jono finds is very foreign to a normal human one. This is almost alien save that it has an echo of primal familiarity. Something along ago lost to the human mind, back further than even the days of the earliest man. Yet it's different than that too, a merging of something far more predatory than ape like creatures ever were. Beyond the concious awareness of man there is a true 'living in the now' and emotion. Deep and overly strong. Pain. Hunger. Anger. Territorial. A whisper of breath catches the cat's attention and he stands upon all fours, roaring at the sight of some one else in the room. He attempts to charge, pouncing towards Lily and Kitty. Lily has a hard time not bouncing in relieved anticipation when Kitty's head pops into the room. When Kitty reappears, there's not the slightest hesitation. Lily all but flings herself at Kitty, then 'eeeps' when Jeremy roars. (( No! )) Is screamed into Jeremy's mind as the tiger charges for Kitty and Lily. If only Siobhan were here. Or the professor. Jonothon doesn't know a lot about minds, and he's quite afraid to attempt anything. Then something occurs.. and if he can get Jeremy to pause for the shout he starts broadcasting emotion at the tiger. Something he's done quite often unconsciously, if to others. (( Calm. )) Is the first one. (( Safe. )) Kitty and Lily are friends. Nothing wrong is going on. Kitty should be fetching Lily. Honest! Jeremy is one fast mutha. But, it's all Kitty has to do to touch the leaping-towards-her Lily, and just touch her. Good thing she showed Lily that trick, back in the kitchen when they first really met, huh? Lily is phased, as the contact is made. But, despite her yearning to scold Jeremy and yell at him for what he's done, she's sticking to 'the plan' and fetching her friend, only. "C'mon, Lily. You're going to need to hold your breath. He can't hurt you, anymore." She begins to draw her friend back, down, through the floor as if they were both ghosts, now. Jeremy hits the wall hard putting a bit of a hole in it, when Kitty and Lily ghost through it. He snarls loudly, about to burst right through it after them when there is a shout in his head. He staggers back, confused. He looks around, tail lashing, eyes wide. Where did the voice come from?! where! The sense of calm reaches the feral, even penetraits but there is so much rage that it only mellows the very surface of the tumultuous emotions. He roars again and begins to race out of the room, heading towards the hallway. Lily clings to Kitty's hand hard enough to bruise without meaning to, and nods, trying to control the urge to start shaking as she takes a breath. The trip through floors is, at least, distracting, which helps. The roaring ... does not. "Ohgod. He's coming." Contest of wills time then! Knowing that there are people outside of the hotel to protect, Jonothon finds that core of rage and seeks to figure out what brought it about. He truly hates doing this to someone else's head, but it's important. Can he unravel the rage? Still sending that strange calm, Jono also has to work really hard not to let the rage effect him as well. Inside this mind is truly strange. "Don't worry," says Kitty, as her feet and Lily's hit the floor after Kitty finishes 'walking down the stairs on air'. She exhales, keeping herself concentrated. Focused. "He can't hurt us." She considers, then. If she leads the angry feral towards Jono -- well, she can't do that. So? She turns, to face the oncoming roar. "Be brave," she tells Lily, quietly, holding the girls hand. "Remember, he can't touch you. We can't lead him to Jonothon, though." Hopefully Jonothon can - put him to sleep with a mind whammy, or something? Right? Jeremy staggers on the stairs and looses his footing, sliding down several steps until he flops down onto the 2nd floor landing. He shakes his head, huffing loudly. Something is wrong! but the beast doesn't understand. Still it clings to it's rage, it's instincts. Perhaps some how it knows if it looses this fight it will be forced asleep again, locked away in the back of Jeremy's consciousness. He roars loudly, frightening a flock of pigeons roosting on the railing. As for the what caused it? The root rage is hidden beyond so many other events.. but the most obvious ones are the most recent.. thugs attacking Lily, shooting at her and Jeremy. Then there is a flood of pain that colors everything else red. He half sees the phantom forms of Kitty and Lily and that reignites his focus. The female is being stolen! He staggers towards the faint shapes and tries to swipe at Kitty. Floundering, Jonothon has little experience with this kind of thing, and certainly no lessons from the Professor. The rage is the problem though, or so he believes. With that in mind he attempts to dim the pain. Where it begins and pinch that off. Now that he has some lessons in. How to lessen pain. So the teen seeks out where the rage is triggering things and purposely starts 'cutting' them off. Not really chopping things, but more like bending tight until signals can't get through. Doesn't want to tear apart Jeremy's mind here. No Pain! No Lily being stolen! Everything is all right! Lily nods faintly. Yeah, she knows. Doesn't stop her from wanting to hide behind Kitty in a reflexive reaction ... or think about yanking them both into a cubby somewhere where they'll be 'safe'. Knowing Kitty's power and trusting it enough to not react 'normally' are two different things. She yelped when Jeremy lunged. "Jeremy, no! Please! It's ok!" Kitty, however, remains - confident. Brave. ANd, she doens't even flinch as Jeremy attacks. But, as Lily actually tries to reason with the ferally minded mutant, Kitty frowns, some. "Stop," she says, quietly, calmly, but, with a inflection in her tone that suggests there might be escalation to come, soon, if Jeremy doesn't cease. "You've hurt Lily enough." Jeremy abruptly sits, eyes getting a confused, faraway look. His ears swivel focusing in on Kitty and Lily. His tail end flicks. But he is no longer perusing. Not hunting. Not defending. He does however stare at them. The pain is fading, and with it the anger is starting to trickle away. That is the fuel that powers the feral mindset and as it's energy is lessened so does it's control. ((???)) Relief floods through Jonothon as the red ting leaves. He was starting to see it himself. Holding firm to those areas of pain, he none the less lets himself rest a little. This mental stuff is hard. (( Jeremy? )) That British voice the tiger might remember. (( Christ. Please, Jeremy, answer me? You aren't an animal, mate. )) Not entirely anyway. Please don't try and hurt Kitty and Lily anymore? Lily begins to breathe again when Jeremy hesitates. "It's ok, Jeremy. We're ok. Nobody's after us, ok?" She might not understand exactly what happened, but she's clever enough to have figured out that the attack precipitated the change in Jeremy's behavior. "Talk to me?" She asks. Seems Kitty is going to be the only one here who doesn't trust Jeremy - that is, assuming Jeremy trusts himself. She keeps herself, and Lily phased, not looking all that happy at the mutant who jeopardized her friends life. Even if he did save her, it's no excuse! "We should go," she says, to Lily, now that Jeremy isn't chasing, and raving frantic ragey-raging. There is a vague thought that is almost human. ((Protect Lily. No Hurt. Where? Where?)) Jeremy's face wrinkles up as he sniffs the air, trying to see or smell where Jono is. Which he won't be able to do of course. His ears refocus on where Lily's voice is coming from. He stands up, still upon all fours and attempts to follow after the girls. "raah." He tries to beat them to the next landing. Outside are enemies! (( Lily is safe. )) The teen assures. (( Lily is with Kitty, and she is safe. )) Jonothon's tone promises. (( Kitty will protect. )) Here's so hoping that won't set the tiger off again. Now that the pain is gone, he's left afraid to let the channels open again. Finally he gets the idea and attempts to put Jeremy to sleep. With the rage diminished it could be possible now. Jono feels like one of those old time phone operators. Reaching here, plug there, unplug that, put it over there.. guh! You're tired, Jeremy! Lily is safe. Nothing is wrong... sleep! "Not until I know he's ok." Lily says. And it's not /just/ because she wants to make sure he's ok, though that's half of it. The other half lies in the whole 'don't want him to shred half the city'. "He saved my life." Which is the gods' own truth. Guns. Yeeeeeeeeesh. Mature enough to realize now isn't the time to point out what a freaking DANGER Jeremy is to Lily, himself - and, everyone else, Kitty only nods. She recognizes that, too - the debt of gratitude, simliar in some respects to her own experience. "Okay," she says, tightly. She expells a breath, draws one in. Keeps herself, and Lily phased. And lets Lily, and Jono, talk to Rage Cat. Sleep? believe it or not, putting Jeremy to sleep ends up being easier than any of the other things. He's already fatigued.. lack of food, water. Regeneration doesn't come cheap. The stress of it all.. that and cats love to sleep anyway. His eye lids flutter and he missteps. Slowly he slumps down, woozy. He yawns loudly. My what big teeth he has! Keeping hold of things until he's sure that Jeremy isn't fighting him, Jonothon attempts to contact Kitty and Lily. It means his mental presence really dims for Jeremy. Just enough to keep that mental command of sleep up. To the girls, there's a familiar voice, (( Christ, that was rough. Get out while you can. I don't know if I can do that again. )) Jono even sounds dead tired. Almost as much as Jeremy. (( And please don't wake him. )) Plaintive that. (( There's something wrong, but I can't fix it. He was in pain. Don't know why though. That's buried too deep for me to see, but once I cut the pain off he stopped. After that sleep was easy.. )) Can we go home now? ((He got shot.)) Lily explained. ((At least twice. Jumped between me and one of the bullets.)) Which would be why she's wanting to make sure he's ok. ((I ... maybe we should call the school? Leaving him here still out of it ... isn't the best idea.)) Again, that flash of blood and mayhem. Lily's got no idea what sort of mood Jeremy will be in when he wakes, but she's worried he'll be in a BAD mood, and take it out on anyone that gets in range. But if the answer is no, she'll leave. Reluctantly, and with many a backward look, but Kitty won't have to force the issue. Remaining phased, Kitty merely nods to Jono's request, and continuing to keep in contact with Lily, moves to phase right through the wall, out into the street, and to Jono's car. Once they're outside, Kitty lets go of herself and Lily in their phased format. She frowns, pointing out after they leave, "And bringing a mutant who can't control himself, and is capable of killing any of our students there isn't exactly a wise idea. We can tell the Professor about him," she agrees. "But, I'm not letting us take him back, without permission." It's clear she's not a fan of the idea. Jeremy lays his head on his arms and soon he's snoring loudly away. Zzzzzz it's likely the first deep sleep he's had in a very long time. There's apology in his tone as he claims, (( I just can't hold him much longer, luv. I'm afraid if I let go he's going to rampage again. Just how are we getting him anywhere? )) Jonothon is as bothered by it as Lily though. (( Did either of you bring your phone? You could call? )) Only once he sees the two girls does he gently begin to ease that hold. Sleep, Jeremy. Rest. Peace. Jono prays he didn't do the fellow any harm, and wishes that he could do something for the bloke. Doesn't yet know how to implant memory or he'd leave a number to call. (( Lily.. )) Once he's fully let go of Jeremy's brain, (( Do you know anyone we could call about him? Beyond the school? )) It's tough to feel empathic for the person who was just holding your friends hostage, and who just witnessed that person in a psychotic rage. Even if they do know all the details. "He's not coming with us," she says, flatly. She adds, "If Lily had a cellphone, it doesn't work now. I can't use them, really." She shrugs, "At least, not and phase. I short out circuits, when I go through objects. Kind of a side-effect thing." She adds, hesitantly, "If you want to call someone, fine. BUt let's do it quickly." Jeremy continues to sleep. zzzzzz! His ear briefly twitches and he rolls over onto his side. Outside things remain as calm as they were before. The cop car is gone, apparently having moved on to file their findings. Lily shakes her head. "He's alone. Street kid." She feels bad. "And he only lost control /after/ he got shot at least twice. Tell me any of /us/ would be able to hold it together after that!" Lily will deal with the mental images of the carnage Jeremy caused after he lost control later. Right now, she's trying to hold it together. "I guess we'll just have to leave him." She is Not Happy about that. (( He's asleep. )) There's a huge amount of relief for that as Jonothon lets Jeremy slip off into dream land. That poor guy was so tired. (( I can't use a phone, Kitty. Can't talk, remember? I do agree though. We can't take him with us. What if he woke up, raging, while we were driving back? I know the feel of his mind now. I'll check on him as often as I can. )) Jono means that too. He'll peek in later to make sure that the tiger is okay. Sitting up in his driver's seat, he gives the two a wan smile. (( Good to see you two again. )) For all it's only been a few minutes. (( Was worried you'd been hurt, Lily. )) Before their arrival anyway. (( What all happened that he got shot? )) "We're glad to be back," points out Kitty, wryly. But, she's relieved. She hugs Lily, now. "Glad you're okay," she says, earnestly. A pause, and she looks to Jono, "You -do- realize that this means you two have to go to the dance, together, right?" She grins, impishly, trying to at least bring some measure of levity to the situation, now that everything is well. Jono gets hugged when Lily gets in range, and she happily returns Kitty's hug. Hard enough to threaten ribs in both cases. "We met up to exchange books." She says. "Only, a bunch of toughs showed up. They wanted to rough us up. We started to run, but then one pulled a gun and shot at me. Jer lunged between me and the bullet. After that he just ... " She waved a hand helplessly. "Went off the deep edge. They kept shooting. When the dust finally cleared, Jer still wasn't talking, and herded me into the hotel, like he was trying to protect me or something." Yeah, there's a bit of a gap in the tale, there. What good humor he had fades at the mention of the dance. (( Christ. )) And it's NOT because he doesn't like Lily. In fact he hugs her back, relieved she's alright. (( Let it go, alright? )) Jonothon doesn't want to go to the dance for a couple of reasons. Turns his attention back to Lily and her explaining what happened. (( He was definitely trying to protect you, luv. )) Said of Jeremy. (( That was about the only thoughts he had. Pain and protecting you. )) There's the shake of his head as he looks to the ruined building. (( Let's go. We can talk as we drive out of here. )) Jono attempts to shoo the girls into the car with that. "Well," says Kitty, not pushing the dance further, or voicing her own opinions of what SHE thinks of Jeremy, since the other two seem pretty steadfast that he was protecting Lily and did some boon to help her, "I'm just glad you're alright, Lily." She grimaces, "Why does everything bad have to happen to us, anyways?" A more general complaint, to the universe at large. Lily settles into the car. "Thanks, Jono. I really appreciate it. This wasn't his fault." She shivers a bit. "If you figure it out, Kitty, let me know. In the meantime ... you lot are going to need a ton of C4 to shift me out of the mansion for a while." Jonothon buckles himself in, and gets the car started. Looks back to make sure everyone is settled before he gets out of that poor part of town. His thoughts are on Jeremy however. Be safe, tiger guy! (( Heh. And you give me hell about not wanting to socialize? Hardly seems fair. )) Teasing Lily there. She has good reason to be wary, but then so does he. At least with powers practice finally under way things are improving. "You can't let it beat you," says Kitty. "I mean, I wasn't even at the school for a couple days, and someone tried to kidnap me." Pause. Beat. "Well, they -did-," she laments. "But. Everyone at the school was behind me. Helped me." she puts a hand on Lily's shoulder, "We're there for you. And, we'll help you. We'll just go in groups or something, for now. But, you can't let them win, Lily." "Hey, I don't hide in my room away from /everyone/." Lily points out. "I just ... am really not feeling the desire to go to town, ever. I mean, the Mall, Emma, /Mag-effing-neto/. Now this. It's enough to make a girl paranoid." She sighs. "And groups so hasn't been helping. Maybe once I can do more than run and hide I'll reconsider, but right now? No way." Jonothon feels the urge to point out he hasn't been hiding in his room from everyone, but decides not to. Not like Lily is likely to believe that. (( Kitty is right. You girl's have all the fun. )) Not serious that, and he hasn't told anyone about his adventure with the ghost. The Professor didn't believe him, so he's afraid people will think he's crazy. One of the drawbacks of being an astral entity is that it tracks like. (( Really, if you want to go somewhere, just ask. People will be glad to go with you. That said, I'm glad you told me to expect you. Wouldn't have had any idea you were in trouble. )) "You still shouldn't hide from the world," points out Kitty, to Lily. "You'll be okay." She squeezes Lily's shoulder, reassuringly. "We'll let the Professor know what happened, when we get back. And, he can maybe look into - helping your friend." Because Jeremy is most decidedly not her friend. He kidnapped her bud! Lily snorts. "If you call that fun, your idea of fun is badly warped, Jono." Lily says, but at least she sounds ... somewhat normal. "And why do you think I told you I was going somewhere in the first place? I'd have taken someone with me if I thought Jeremy would be ok with it, but he's ... skittish still. Kinda like I was when I got approached by Kurt and them." And hey, the kidnapping hadn't exactly been a true kidnapping. He grins at Lily, but likely by means of the rear view mirror since he's driving. (( Jeremy helped me with something a few weeks ago, but I haven't been able to find him since. )) Nor has the teen had a lot of time to look with school getting so busy. (( I'd hope he remembers me. Next time I'll go with, alright? )) Lily doesn't have to accept, but Jono has had dealings with the tiger teen beyond that first lunch buying. (( And I do understand. I was there when we bought him lunch, remember? )) Having said her mind, Kitty remains quiet for now, as talk turns to Jeremy, and worry over him. She isn't exactly worried about him, she's more concerned of Lily. And, maybe wondering inside her mind now if Jeremy didn't try and mess with her head, like Nanny tried to mess with Kitty's head. Lily blinks. She's sort of forgotten that Jono'd been there. But then, so much has happened since that first meet-up with Jeremy she can probably be forgiven. "Yeah, you can definitely come with me next time, Jono. I'd forgotten you met him." (( Heh. )) Forgotten. Figures. Not that he can really blame her. (( I'm not doing anything that can't wait, until school starts anyway, so feel free to drag me along. )) Jonothon pauses there and adds, (( And I mean trips away from school. That's not free reign to drag me anywhere you like. )) What? Did you think he'd missed that she has this habit of doing just that? Kitty lets the two banter, for the rest of the trip home, she going more internal, thinking about things. And where this new direction in life is taking her. And, just how much more dangerous things are going to get. Introspective Kitty! Lily laughs. "I already gave myself carte blanche to drag you wherever, but thanks for the permission." She teases Jono. And Kitty only gets so much brooding in before she discovers Lily's penchant for not allowing brooding. Via getting a hank of hair tugged. "Hey, miss deep thoughts. Wanna share with the rest of the class?" Jonothon wrinkles his nose at Lily. He's been obliging with her in the past, but she's going to find out just how stubborn he can be about certain things. It likely won't be pretty. (( Not going. )) Said firmly. Whether or not anyone was thinking about it. Then Kitty is getting tugged on and the Brit falls silent in order to be able to listen. That and he's driving anyway. Loves that he can do so here in America. It's awesome. Oh, and his care is a mid-sized Lexus. Plush, but not sporty. It's totally not what he could have bought, but it is at least black. "Huh?" Asks Kitty, then she says, "Nah. Just thinking, is all." She offers Lily a reassuring sort of smile. "And glad we could help you out." She rakes a hand through her hair, "We can spend some time practicing on the sword techniques that Professor Wagner's been teaching us?" Lily grins and uses the other hand to tussle Jono's hair. "/Relax/, Grumpy. I'd be dragging you along for someone to talk to, if I dragged you to the dance. Somehow, I don't think either of us are going to be hitting the dance floor." She grins over at Kitty. "Sure. Maybe not right after we get back, but tomorrow morning for sure." Dirty look time! Not that there's true intent behind it. (( If you want to talk I don't have to be at the dance to do that. )) Telepath, remember? Doesn't bother to mention that he actually knows how to dance. Doubts it will make much difference. (( How is that class? )) Asked, because he didn't take it. Mainly because he was worried he'd blast someone by accident during it. Pointy things in your face, and all. "Sure thing," agrees Kitty. She clearly wants to be the best, she can be. There's a sense of urgency with it, too. To 'speed up' her training, if she can. But, that - and the reason why, she's not exactly being open about. And she has good enough reasons why - among them, she's been instructed to shut her mouth. Lily grins. "It's great. Kurt's a lot of fun. Makes the learning easier than if he was all serious and sourpuss, you know? He /juggled/ the swords the first day." That gets a snicker. There's a glance to Kitty, but Jonothon doesn't say anything. The school is full of secrets, and he knows better than to poke at them. (( Maybe I can take it next semester. Or next summer if it's only available then. )) It does sound a lot of fun, but he can't afford to right now. Does sound a bit wistful about it though. Sword fighting is neat! So much better than what he's having to deal with. (( If he offers it anyway. )) "You should," Kitty encourages Jonothon. "He's a very good teacher, and a lot of fun. And, most importantly, you get a lot of experience right off the bat." She smiles, faintly. "I'm enjoying it." "You can join us now, if you want. We've only had a couple classes. You'd not be hugely behind." Lily points out. "We spent almost the entire first one picking swords, too." Jonothon shakes his head. (( I can't afford to now. )) Said with his eyes on the road. Doesn't bother moving his lips either. (( I'm too dangerous. I'll need another few months of control practice before I can attempt that. )) Shrugs afterwards. Just a face of daily life for the young man. (( When I feel more comfortable with this all I'll join. Honest, it's not because I dislike people that I'm not attending. )) Really! Kitty gives Jonothon a curious look, wondering if he's just one of those really odd detached 'Goth' kids she's heard so much about, or what. But, she doesn't press that issue or ask, it's really none of her business. Instead, she just notes, "He makes it fun. And, if you need any help with your physics classes, Jonothon, let me know. I can probably help you. Or computer labs." "Afford ... Jono ... " Lily starts, mistakenly thinking Jono means afford as in /money/. Then she quiets. "Oh, you mean that. If you're sure. But it's really not anything that would make you lose control, I don't think. It's not like we're tackling each other or anything." There's a shrug for Lily's words. (( While it's getting better, I'm not taking the risk. )) Jonothon does feel he has reasons for what he does. (( I'm not the one who'd end up dead. )) Said with a little smirk. (( I'll try in a few more months. I've been learning a lot of control lately. Only a matter of time now. )) ftb